Europe, Are You Ready For Me?

Travel! Everyone wants to do it. I know I do. I have traveled within the United States and crossed many state lines. I have been to Arizona, Indiana, Connecticut, Miami, Washington, and my forever home (God willing) Massachusetts. Now, if we are talking about countries, besides the United States, I have been to the Dominican Republic. One because I was born there and two because I have visited it.

This number changed this Fall. I crossed the Atlantic and I am now in Toulouse, France!! I am studying abroad this semester. The name of the program is Business and Culture of Toulouse. I came into contact with this program because of my study abroad advisor. Like I previously mentioned in another one of my blogs, I was taking a French course. I had always wanted to study abroad, I just didn't know where. I communicated my interest in studying in France to my advisor. She then guided me to the right resources. Then voila, I applied. Got in. Covid hit. The program got canceled. My application was deferred for another semester. Then that program got suspended. I reapplied for this fall and then got in! Side note: I completed my second application in less than 30 minutes. For that application, I did not put as much effort into it as I did in my first application because I already knew I was going to get in.

Traveling to France was something new for me. It was the first time I had ever traveled alone by plane. The thought of traveling alone was both exciting and scary. I was excited because a sense of responsibility came with it. It was scary because I constantly had my moms voice in my head saying, “No te duermas cuando estés sola porque te van a robar las cosas.” (Never sleep when your alone because your things might be stolen) Of course, I would say that I was listening and that I will not do it, but I eventually end up doing it.

Buying my plane ticket was a hassle. There were no direct flights to France, which meant I had to take a connecting flight. I booked my trip around June 23. I gave myself enough time just in case there were any flight cancellations or any other inconveniences. Figures, my departure flight got canceled which meant I needed to change my flight if I wanted to make it to my connecting flight. The only way I found out this had happened was because I occasionally kept opening the app to make sure everything was alright. They never emailed me telling me my original flight was canceled. This got me annoyed. The program was going to pick up the students Monday 30 at 2 pm. With my original flight, I was supposed to land Monday morning at 10 am, giving me enough time to go through customs and get my bags. Since my departure flight got canceled, I was given a couple of options. To arrive earlier in order to make it to my connecting flight or to stay with what they had suggested. However, what they had suggested did not make any sense. They assigned me to another flight which if I had taken I would have missed my connecting flight because they were both at the same time. Like what???? How am I supposed to be in 2 places at once? So of course, I picked option one.

My new flight left JFK on August 28 at 8:20 pm. I, of course, like every Dominican, left for the airport 3-4 hours before. You know, we can never be late for our flights. We started boarding around 7:45 pm. There was a plane jam on the runway. We were there for around 45 minutes before take-off. Since it was nighttime, they served us dinner. After the flight attendants told us to lower the blinds and they turned off the lights. It was sleeping time.

We landed in Dublin, Ireland the 29th at 8:20 am. We had crossed several time zones. In Dublin, I waited 2 hours and 30 minutes for my second flight to Toulouse. The airport was empty. The covid protocols were through the roof. None of the stores in the airport were opened. People also had to leave one seat empty next to them.

I had never seen an airport so clean and functional. The bathrooms in the airport were made to use the least amount of energy and to preserve water-efficient. The toilets had 2 buttons. Depending on what business you took you pressed one of the two buttons. This was made to conserve water. The toilets also had a cushion in the back in order to make your stay in the bathroom more pleasant.

Another thing that caught my attention was how clear the garbage bins were. The garbage bins had 3 different buckets, each detailing what corresponded in each of them.

To get to the plane we had to walk on the runway and climb up the airstairs (I had to search this up lol) to make it to our flight. I had always seen other people go into the plane this way and I eventually wanted to do it too. On this trip, I did, and it was a first. The flight was about 2 hours and 10 minutes, in which I slept the majority of it.

Once I landed at Toulouse, I went through customs. When the guy at the desk called me I said hello. Of course, he expected to be greeted in French. Since I greeted him in English, he was taken aback. He took way longer than usual to check my passport and my covid pass, which made me extra nervous. Then he said, “You're good.” I said, “Merci.” Those were my first French words in the country. I felt proud :) I walked to get my luggage. When I got to the baggage claim, I saw that the flight I had gotten off said baggage claim 8XL. I thought this was where the bags were going to come out of. When I checked, that conveyor belt was turned off, and a group of people was standing at conveyor belt 6. I was confused. I went to the information desk and said, “Bonjour. Je ne parle pas Francais. Where is the luggage from flight 532?” The woman at the desk looked at me with the look of, then why are you here? With the biggest attitude and eye roll, I have ever witnessed she said “6.” I thanked her and left, murmuring “bitch” to myself.

If you know me, you know I tend to overpack for anything. I am going on a 3 day weekend, I will take a carry-on bag, my beach bag, and my backpack. This was also the case here. I took 2 checked-in bags, a carry-on, and my backpack. I don't know what I was thinking. The bags were each 50 pounds. I was struggling to get them off the conveyor belt. When I finished getting my bags, I was moving like a turtle. I walked towards the exit with 2 bags. Then walked back for the other one. I heard a girl whispering to probably her grandma (An old lady. They were both seated next to me on the plane) “I don't know how she is going to take all those bags, like really, 3?” I was like, I am asking myself the same question. I didn't know if I had to pay for a cart or not. Turns out they were free. There was a machine next to them where once you push the button a coin will pop out.

Since I arrived a day earlier, I needed to spend the night at a hotel. I booked one near the airport. Back home, I was looking to see how much a taxi will charge from the airport to the hotel, and Uber said around 50 Euros. I was like, that's a no for me. I will walk. It was a 15 minutes walk. However, after struggling with those bags, I was like, “No! I need to take a cab.” I walked outside to see if there were any taxis nearby. There wasn’t. Turns out that the taxis come one by one and the person in front of the line takes the cab. Well, I didn't know this. I was next in line, but I wasn’t sure how the system worked. There were 2 girls behind me who took my taxi. One of them was laughing and the other one saying something in French. I am pretty sure they were like, “Dumb girl, we just took your taxi.” I understood the system then. Another taxi came and I asked him, “C'est combien?” (How much) He said, “Quinze” I was like bet.

The short ride to the hotel only let me take in the new place for a little bit. The streets were very empty. It was Sunday. In France, Sundays are family days. People stay home to relax. Stores are closed and there are barely any people in the streets. Once I made it to my hotel I checked in. I again was having issues taking my bags to my room. I then took a 2-hour nap. I woke up, heated up some mangu mami had packed for me. It was around 8:26 pm and the sun was still out. Then I showered, watched some Netflix, and fell asleep. I was watching Clickbait. I RECOMMEND it! That was the first time I had ever stayed at a hotel by myself, so this was another first.

The next morning, I woke up and grabbed some breakfast. My first French croissant. It was delicious. The apple juice tasted real. The cheese was extra creamy. The applesauce, which I had eaten later, tasted like real apples that were smudged together a day ago. I sat outside to eat my breakfast. Something that took me by surprise was how the weather was really cold in the morning and it got warmer during the day. The only other time I had experienced this type of weather was in Arizona.

After my breakfast, I got ready. I didn't know how I was going to get to the airport, so I checked Uber. It was 9 euros. I booked it and headed out. During the ride to the airport, the driver tells me that the trip was canceled. I was like what? I asked if I could pay in cash and he said yes. I gave him a bill of 10, he didn't have 1 euro coin, so he gave me back a 2 euro coin. So my trip turned out to be 8 euros. I was like yes! Side note: Budgeting is key! I am going to be spending a lot of money so knowing where my money is going is very important.

I made it to the airport. I had to wait around one hour for the pickup time. I got a Starbucks refresher. It was horrible. It tasted like medicine. I was like never again. When they came to pick us up, we had to walk across the airport to get on the bus. I had gotten another cart to carry my bags. After we got on the bus, we headed towards the school, where we had orientation. Then later that day, our host family was going to pick us up.

Getting here was an adventure. It is definitely going to the books. I now know what Jetlagged really is. I can proudly say that I crossed the Atlantic all by myself without having a breakdown. I am excited about what's to come, and I cannot wait to share it with you!

Thank you for giving me the time of your day to read this piece. If you have any questions regarding anything do not hesitate to ask me. If you have any suggestions please let me know. Remember I am not the best writer. If you do happen to find a grammar mistake on this piece, please email me.

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Stay tuned for my next blog -> I Did That!

XOXO Yerika